Huckleberry Finn is a classic novel, bursting with countless plots, characters, hidden ideas, and one incredible friendship that outlast all of society's critical ideas. Controversy swirls around Jim, one of the primary characters in the novel. He and Huck become the best of friends, defying convention as Jim is black, and Huck is white. Concealed inside this novel are Twain's very own thoughts about societies during the 1800's when he wrote Huckleberry Finn. In doing this, Twain hoped to show his readers how badly African Americans were being treated and some of the hardships they had to endure simply because of their color. Overall, Mark Twain used Huckleberry Finn as a literary vehicle to express his views on the hypocrisy of slavery and the social classes it created.
Mark Twain felt slavery was corrupt and immoral. His feelings were that slavery was an unacceptable part of society and all people deserved to have freedom.
The cover of the first edition of Adventures of Hu...
Illustration of Jim and Huckleberry Finn, by EW Ke...
mark twain Category:Mark Twain images"One of my theories is that the hearts of men are about alike, all over the world, whatever their skin-complexions may be." ( Salwen 1) Furthermore, Twain used Huckleberry Finn as a means to express his own feelings on slavery. For instance, Huck was raised to believe slavery was the norm in his society; yet as the novel progresses, Huck comes to a deciding moment; whether or not he should protect Jim. Huck finally "decides he would be damned to the flames of hell rather than betray his black friend."(1)
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn gave Mark Twain the opportunity to prove that slaves were real people with valid feelings for their family, work, and life. In the novel, Jim ran away from Miss Watson because he heard her talk about sending him to another plantation down the river. Jim knew that ultimately this meant he...